MWC2010 Barcelona

We went to MWC Barcelona 2010 for the first and second days.

During our stay there, my colleague JC Fantechi and I covered almost everything we wanted to see. The following paragraphs are some reflections and experiences gathered during my time there. I’m very grateful to my colleagues at Ergonomidesign for having sent me there to represent them despite my relative inexperience. Even though as an interaction designer, I felt woefully out of place at times, I managed to stay afloat through the experiences and emerge with (hopefully) some new opportunities and insight for my team and also some important personal lessons.

On Windows Mobile 7

We did not make it for the actual launch (too costly like everything else!), but were there in Barcelona for the launch of Windows Mobile 7 Series! Woohoo!

The ‘buzz’ (apologies, Google!) that was felt around it was definitely positive. I am pretty sure the MWC2010 event will earmark itself in history as the first time Windows actually gave Apple a real vicious bite. Game on, Cupertino! There are clearly more knowledgeable reviews in Wired and Engadget, so let it suffice to say that from what I saw of the launch online and at their massive stall – my friends at Redmond/Pioneer Square have done an amazing job in bringing together Windows Live, Xbox and Zune experiences to one mobile platform. The UI looks and feels great and I like the panoramic ‘hubs’ that are used to create a very fresh metaphor in user experience design. WM7’s activity-centric UI is in direct contrast to the application-centric world of Apple, which is brilliant. Hopefully it proves to designers like myself that there are several great metaphors that are waiting to be tapped, if the right conditions are set in place. I’m still curious to know how their store and app-world would pan out, but the die is cast. With Google clearly looking to go aggressively mobile with its Android platform (seen all over the MWC) and now Microsoft entering the game as serious contenders – I think we’ll see exciting times ahead in this space.

Ramble: I believe that with the launch of the iPad (last month), and now with Android and WM7 creating some stiff competition for Apple – we’re witnessing the cornerstone of a whole new galaxy of entrepreneurship and creativity. The giants have put their infrastructure in place for entrepreneurs, developers, (hopefully) designers and ultimately - people to create a world where content of all kind are fluid currency in the form of actionable knowledge. It’s takes no rocket science to guess that once the iPad and other clones enter the market we’re stepping a little closer to making the world witnessed in the living room of Minority Report.

Round 1 : Getting my bearings

From

The MWC was a massive melting pot – an ocean of opportunities and new discoveries. I heard languages from nearly every part of the World discussing business in every nook and corner of the venue. I’d never seen so many people in business suits and ties in one place! Everyone had something to sell – from the smallest headsets, handsets and apps to the largest antennae. There was some exciting new technology on display, some even bordering on the ridiculous. The halls were like giant aquariums and there were fish, sharks, whales and bait of all sizes. The App-World stall was particularly colorful, though I failed to see any app or idea that really blew my mind. My favorite stalls had to be the Samsung and Sony Ericsson stalls.

It was a very different language of profit, business interests and salesmanship that I was exposed to. This was clearly the place where business houses came to sell themselves to those with the right kind of interests. Time and talk were precious; badges were continuously checked to see if credentials matched the interests of those concerned. It took the first few hours to refine our ‘approach’ for the stalls we wanted to see and talk to. We had to learn to fish out the right people to talk to about design, without wasting anyone’s time or energy.

We were quite dazed on the first day, perhaps because I went with different (in retrospect, almost naïve) expectations that people would really be open to ‘user experience design’ and roll out a red carpet. What I learnt was immensely humbling, and a bit confusing at the same time. It was humbling to learn how small we were in this large ocean of competitors. Yet, when we spoke and presented to people – their awe and appreciation would always leave us feeling warm and fuzzy.

Without naming specific cases, we had a pretty 60-40% first day. Several contacts were made and will be followed up on. I felt it was a great christening to the big bad World of ‘sell, sell, sell’ and was glad to have the experience of my colleague JC to lean on.

Round 2 : Picking up momentum

Day two at the MWC was a relative feeling of déjà-vu. However we were emboldened by our experience from the previous day. We approached stalls with greater clarity and conviction and mostly followed up on discussions and loose-ends from the previous day. There were social events and gatherings planned for the evenings, but unfortunately I’d be back in Stockholm by then.

Experiences:

• Express check-in (via barcode) was very efficient; buying a pass was a bit slower and tedious but given the manic crowds – very efficient overall.
• Tip for 2011: Get to lunches earlier to avoid long queues.
• Mobile presentations work in such large venues. A venue as large and indifferent as the MWC2010 needed presentations tailored for short attention spans. Our strategy to use a 1-minute presentation/show-reel on iPhones worked! Since we didn’t have any sit down meetings booked in one of the expensive VIP-lounges at the venue – our best strategy was going to be to approach the right people at the stall directly and hopefully get them interested enough in 5 minutes. No laptops, nothing clunky. We showed our video in 1 minute, left ED-books wherever needed and spoke about work and ideas through the rest. Can’t wait to get going with better versions of the show-reel, on an iPad! 
• Quite understandable – the biggest enterprises were next to impossible to connect to without some serious prior appointments. If you’re planning to get real, meaningful relationships from such an event, you’ll definitely need to book, pay, grovel and do a lot of follow-up work to get royal audience.
• Not the ideal venue for designers unless you make a clear stand (literally!) - I do not believe the MWC to be the most ideal venue for industrial design to be showcased. However, service design heavyweights like Fjord and The Astonishing Tribe were there with big stalls and they definitely made their presence felt. There was quite a lot of talk around app-development, services, infrastructure and strategy so it wouldn’t entirely be out of scope for representation on these fronts.
• Design (especially interaction, service design) was not a clear, tangible offering to make in 60 seconds as ‘mobile guerillas’. It would require a slightly different approach in future. We found ourselves often being ‘reduced’ in conversation to mere handset manufacturers. Many understood what we were talking about as user-interface design, but the language of the marketplace was intensely reductive. We were either handset designers, or icon designers.

There are several other reflections I had, which I shall reserve for my colleagues at work. They concern our own approach and strategy to this intersection ahead. It’s a space we’re not entirely entrenched in yet – and it requires a fresh approach, thought and action. Until next year!

(More pictures to come.)

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